Lurpak, Xfinity, dissolving poster and more: 6 top creative ads of the week

We come across hundred of commercial messages in a day and only a handful are noticed. A visual delight for Lurpak in a TV commercial, superbly executed photography and art direction for Hong Kong Ballet and more are part of my creative picks of the week.

1. Lurpak: Smooth

Every major category in advertising has an unwritten code. Beauty & fashion, food, automobile and a few others have an unwritten code – virtually all brands within that category follow such ‘must-dos’. For example, models staring emptily into the camera is a common template in fashion advertising. In food advertising, the primary objective is to convey mouth-watering goodness hence production styling in this category is a specialisation in itself. In such a context, it is rare to see a brand follow the category code and yet stand out from the clutter. Execution plays a critical role in such food ads but it is not just about creating ‘good-looking’ advertising – it has to be seamlessly married to a creative idea. Lurpak butter in UK has been producing some great work over the years centred around the art of cooking coupled with some memorable executions. The latest ad dramatises soft, spreadable butter with a montage of visuals mimicking the action of left-to-right spreading of the knife. It’s all held together with some wonderful writing, editing and music. Superbly crafted.

Agency: Wieden & Kennedy, London

2. Xfinity: Filtertons

Can execution be the idea? ‘Better downloading, gaming, streaming’ is not a path-breakingly unique proposition for a wifi service provider. Xfinity executes it for a sharing age making it look like the memes we are all used to seeing now.

Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners

3. Habitat: The Dissolving Poster

One could be cynical and view it as ‘made for award shows’ but the idea is applause-worthy: a poster made with mixture of paper and powdered larvicide to tackle mosquito menace. In a tropical country like Brazil, breeding sites for mosquitos are common in poor negighbourhoods. The country has a ‘street poster culture’ and hence the idea of producing posters which dissolve in the rains into the standing water to kill mosquitoes is ingenious.

It is common to hear actors, pilots, sports stars or few other professionals say that they ‘always’ dreamed of taking up their profession ever since they remember. But most of us face several conflicts in our minds about career choice, even after formal education. A new film for DNB, a Norwegian bank brings this alive in a memorable way. The creative device: clones of a person fighting among themselves over which career to persuade; the careers are cued through their uniform.

Agency: Try, Oslo

5. KitKat: Speed

‘Have a break, have a KitKat’ is a legendary advertising idea. The great thing about it is that it is integrated very well into the product design (one tends to break it to eat it) and is ‘ownable’ by the brand. There have been several memorable executions of it (a park bench which resembles the KitKat bar for example to cue a ‘break’) over the years. Here’s one which conveys the consumption moment in a fast paced world.

Agency: JWT, Casablanca

6. Hong Kong Ballet: Never Stand Still

A visually stunning series of print ads & posters for the Hong Kong Ballet dramatise the essence of the dance form and the vibrant city that is Hong Kong.